This is a very rewarding game, with something like 30 different endings to experience, depending on how well you play, and more side quests, optional missions and challenges and places to explore than most other JRPGs out there.

The reality is that Samurai Warriors 4 is nothing short of brilliant, and a huge leap forward into the new generation of game design by Koei. It's cinematic, its beautiful, it's fast and entertaining, and if you allow it to be, it's even a little educational. And that makes it inspiring.

I appreciate the maturity that GUST is bringing to the Atelier franchise. In fact, I really, really appreciate the maturity that the developer is injecting into its flagship series, and frankly, I can't think of a better quality traditional JRPG out there than this one.

It's the sequel that does everything just as well as the original, but adds loads to it. And, with the music selection being even better and more varied than in the previous game, this really is the perfect music game. A little strange for the ears of some people, perhaps, but strange in the best possible sense of the word.

Grand Theft Auto V really surprised me. For a series I have had very little interest in the past outside an appreciate for technical proficiency, I found myself drawn into a world where lots of bad things happen to a good number of people - and I was often the one perpetrating these crimes. Call it self-aware social criticism or a guilty pleasure, Grand Theft Auto V proves to be a great deal of fun.

At its core, Danganronpa is a melting pot of various philosophical puzzles that pulls together in such a way that it connected with me on a very deep, very real level. Without giving the ending away, the ultimate fate of all the characters (including Monokuma) left me more than a little shaken, and any game that's able to connect with me at that kind of primal level must be worth the investment.

It is something Ubisoft needs to learn about its games on a very fundamental level: when the company isn't sanitising its narratives and characters to target a Call of Duty-sized blockbuster, it makes better games.

Make no mistake, Papers, Please is a political and sociological statement, and often it's quite a distressing one. But it also stands as proof of the power of games to extend beyond the boundaries of simple entertainment and thrills, and it tells a hell of a story in the process.

Laden with meaning (and in future articles on Digitally Downloaded I'll be writing plenty more about that meaning in the weeks, if not years to come, I suspect), this game uses poetry as its basis and executes on that vision so well that it is, effectively, interactive poetry.

Bayonetta 2 will challenge some people. It will make the uncomfortable. It's transgressive in numerous ways, and with that comes the potential to offend. But in causing offence, Bayonetta 2 encourages conversation, and that's the very definition of a good work of art.

It makes me truly happy to see game developers creating high quality products such as Never Alone that push entertainment boundaries and demonstrate that games can be culturally important. We need to see more of this game, and I hope this is a roaring success so that other native culture organisations look at it and realise the sheer power of games to tell their own stores.

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk is a more complex game than initially appears, with a nuanced and interesting setting and narrative. At the same time it's supported by likable characters, clean gameplay and a traditional JRPG combat system that hits all the right notes. It's GUST at its most insightful, and it's arguably the finest game on the PlayStation Vita.

Combat aside, Bloodborne is a visionary work by a visionary artist. Intense in both theme and application, it's a gory concession to the tastes of the modern mainstream player, while maintaining the spirit and uncompromising narrative that was the hallmark of the Souls games at their finest. But this is far more consistent in that application than those games, making it From Software's finest work to date.

The Rorona remake isn't a massive change over the original game. And it didn't need to be. The original had all the ideas right, but was a little raw on execution. The remake shows that GUST has in subsequent games refined the experience significantly, and now Rorona is now up to the standard of its fellows in the series.

In a way Valiant Hearts is a challenge to everyone in the industry; it's a challenge to the publishers churning out the same old "war games," and it's a challenge to all the players that continue to buy into these games without really thinking about what they are playing. War isn't fun, and it has a real impact on the people that are involved in it. It's games like this one that, critically, remind us that there is a human side to war.

BioWare achieved everything that it needed to with Dragon Age: Inquisition. It revitalised a series that had suffered real brand damage in Dragon Age II, and easily stands as the best RPG we've seen in years. There is absolutely no reason to miss out on this one.